Happiness can feel like an unattainable goal when the punishing pace of today’s work environment pushes the rest of life into the background.  But regaining our perspective on our true life’s passion may be a matter of identifying and monitoring what is important to us.

As children, we were pushed by our parents to decide what we were going to be when we grew up.  And after years of studying and paying our dues, we finally got that dream job, just as our parents had hoped.  While our career guaranteed us financial security, and our parents that we wouldn’t move back home again, has it guaranteed us the life we desire?

Articulating your passion

The reality of the dream job can mean being too busy to think.  While being busy may be better than being bored, being too busy leaves little time to think about why we are doing what we are doing – both professionally and personally.  

About 18 months ago, I decided to make a concerted effort to examine my personal goals.  In the past the focus of such an examination would have been my career.  But as I get older and hopefully wiser, I am seeing life as more than just supporting a career, but as the main event. 

 Having previously thumbed through a copy of The Passion Test by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood at a wellness fair, I decided to track down a copy and read through it.  I was impressed by how well the first half of the book guided the reader through the process of envisioning one’s life passion. 

In brief, the book encourages the reader to imagine their ideal life, including who, what, where, when, why and how, to determine the 10 to 15 most important things that give their life joy, passion and fulfillment.

A personal dashboard

This sort of introspective examination doesn’t come naturally to the analytical mind, so having taken the time and perhaps pains to identify the persons, places and things that make our heart sing, the process itself would be a waste of time if the list was relegated to gather dust on a shelf.  Instead, we can take it a step further and objectively monitor our successes and identify any areas that require action.  A personal dashboard of sorts.

So what would this personal dashboard look like?  Perhaps it might be a simple spreadsheet including categories such as Personal, Financial, Family & Friends and Professional, that group the life passions identified in the exercise.  Each of these life passions can be considered indicators within each category. Some indicators may be short term in nature, while others longer term.  

Each indicator could be measured on a monthly or quarterly basis. A rating would be ascribed based on whether the individual feels they are living the passion described by each specific indicator, somewhat living it, or not living the passion, by rating them one, two and three respectively.  Within each category the indicators might be weighted based on their importance to the individual.  Each category might also be weighted.   A rating can be made for each quadrant based on the weighted indicator ratings within the quadrant, along with an overall rating.  Thus the indicators roll up for an overall life passion score.

Revisit the list of goals to confirm you are on track with what you see as priorities, and update it as needed to reflect the changes in priorities that inevitably occur throughout our lives.

Living your passion

To quote Deepak Chopra, “what you put your attention on will become stronger”.  By first identifying and then tracking your personal goals, you will soon realize your passions.